Elements of Poetry

1. Stanza - A unit of lines grouped together; similar to a paragraph in proseExamples:

Couplet – A stanza consisting of two lines that rhyme Tercet – 3 lines that rhyme Quatrain – 4 lines that rhyme

2. Mood - The feeling a poem creates for the reader3. Tone - The attitude a poet takes toward his/her subject4. Imagery - Representation of the five senses: sight, taste, touch, sound, and smell; creates mental

images about a poem’s subjectExample:Continuous as the stars that shine and twinkle on the Milky Way

5. Metaphor - An implied comparison between two objects or ideasExample: A poet could not but be gay [happy] in such a jocund [cheerful] company. I gazed and gazed but little thought what wealth the show to me had brought.

6. Personification - Giving human traits or characteristics to animals or inanimate objectsExample: When all at once I saw a crowd, a host of golden daffodils; beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

7. Simile - A direct comparison between two objects or ideas that uses the words “like” or “as”Example:I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high o’er vales and hills.

8. Symbol - A word or object that has its own meaning and represents another word, object or ideaExample: The daffodils represent happiness and pleasure to the author.

9. Onomatopoeia - A word that imitates a noise or action Examples:Water plops into pondSplish-splash downhillWarbling magpies in treeTrilling, melodic thrill

Whoosh, passing breezeFlags flutter and flapFrog croaks, bird whistlesBabbling bubbles from tap

10. Refrain - The repetition of one or more phrases or lines at certain intervals, usually at the end of each stanza; similar to the chorus in a songExample:

The cat so silentLay curled up on the rugThe fire a blazeThe room so snug.

Purring, purringQuiet and stillPurring, purringContent from his fill.

11. Rhyme Scheme - The pattern in which end rhyme occursExample: Continuous as the stars that shine (A)And twinkle on the Milky Way, (B)They stretched in never-ending line (A)Along the margin of a bay: (B)Ten thousand saw I at a glance, (C)Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. (C)

Reporter: MALATE, IDA KATHLEEN O.

Course/Section: LIT303/AR31FC2